'A wonderful thing for Belgium'

The Belgian Football Association (URBSFA/KBVB) is putting the finishing touches to its preparation for the UEFA European Under-17 Championship finals, and the organisation's president, François De Keersmaecker, is proud to have the 2-13 May event in his nation.

'Wonderful thing'
"I am looking forward to this tournament," De Keersmaecker said. "It is a wonderful thing for a country like Belgium to welcome seven other countries, including some of the great football nations. I am looking forward to seeing the matches and I am convinced it will be a good tournament with good football and much fair play."

Drawing near
De Keersmaecker has watched the finals draw nearer since being awarded the event in early 2005. "The preparations have been going on for several years, beginning very small with a few people and in recent months it has been enormous," he said. "As president you can't do it all, just supervise, but I am very pleased with the work of our group and many volunteers working for free for the community and football. It is very nice to work with them."

Uniting the country
The multilingual nature of Belgium is reflected in the make-up of the finals, with the two groups taking part in different regions. "We have two centres," De Keersmaecker said. "One in Eupen, where we have much support from the German-speaking community. And the other on the Flemish side, on the border of the Flemish and the French-speaking part of the country. It is wonderful - in football we have no languages and borders, it is one great family."

Youth success
Belgium, who last staged a continental finals when they and the Netherlands put on UEFA EURO 2000™, may not be one of the strongest nations at senior level at present, but when it comes to youth football they are among Europe’s best - last year they qualified for the U17 and U19 finals for both men and women, and in June they will compete for the U21 title in the Netherlands. "It is great we have good results for youth teams - at U21 level we have qualified and can reach the Olympics," De Keersmaecker said. "We had the U19s second in the UEFA rankings, so we have done a very good job and that's important for us. It is the future that counts and when you are in a period when the A-team are in difficulties it is important to look forward."